High Efficiency Hybrid A/C Units and Related Hardware Additional technical documents on the Hybrid A/C units below. Click on item names in green for a data sheet or picture of the product. Item Manufacturer Model # Condition MSRP Price Complete System: Hybrid A/C SolCool SCO24 V3 New 3,400.00 900.00 Spare Parts: Water Cooler (bottled water) Livart LV-210 (no hot) New 207.56 60.00 Water Cooler Dispenser Aquacell Aquacell-1000 New 995.00 225.00 Water Cooler Dispenser Aquacell Aquacell-1000 Demo 995.00 100.00 Solar Mounting Brackets SolCool New 5.00 1.00 A/C Condenser (image) Tecumseh AJA2429ZXAXA New 704.64 395.00 Refrigerant Solonoid Valve Emerson New 200.00 50.00 A/C Duct Add-on SolCool New 20.00 5.00 The SolCool Version 3 (see photo below) is a revolutionary low-power unit that runs internally on DC power. The SolCool can plug into a standard 110-volt wall socket if available, but also uses a combination of 12-volt solar/back-up batteries for its internal grid such that it can be operated completely from solar panels or a wind turbine. Its modular form fits any type of residence or commercial building, from a single-family home to a condo tower to a professional office space to a warehouse. Each Version 3 unit uses 80% less electricity and provides about 2 tons of cooling with a 67 SEER rating. In the Las Vegas valley, each unit will cool about 800sq/ft. The advanced design of the system does not add any humidity to the air inside the structure. We recommend the SolCools be use in conjunction with a traditional A/C unit where the SolCool is set 2-3 degrees below the regular A/C thermostat. This will save a considerable...

It’s not an official government rating, but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless: 78 miles per petroleum gallon (MPPG) in a Volkswagen Passat TDI diesel. It was anointed a Guinness World Record, so it’s more than your neighbor bragging about his eco-abilities. The team of auto blogger Wayne Gerdes and electronics engineer Bob Winger ran up 8,122 miles, using 104.94 gallons of fuel, covering the 48 contiguous states in a Passat diesel built at VW’s Chattanooga factory and delivered for the drive as it came off the line, VW says. VW itself set the previous record for a Passat diesel, 67.9 mpg in 2009. The U.S. government’s official highway mileage rating for the Passat diesel is 43 mpg. The Passat TDI drive began June 7 from VW’s U.S. headquarters in Herndon, Va., and ended when the team returned there June 24. “Obviously, we employ some specialized techniques to achieve such figures, but there’s no reason why owners of TDI vehicles shouldn’t be able to achieve great mileage,” Gerdes says. A key tactic: Anticipate conditions. “Look for impediments or topography 15 to 45 seconds ahead, rather than reacting to where you’re currently driving,” he says. Equipment on the mileage run: •Shell ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. •Continental PureContact with EcoPlus Technology tires, which have low rolling resistance. Those aren’t available as a factory option on Passat TDI, but are available from tire sellers and were approved by Guinness. •Linear Logic ScanGauge II to precisely measure fuel economy ETC has contacted the team of Wayne Gerdes and Bob Winger with the intention of setting a new record for MPPG from our...

For a fifth-grade science fair, Evie Sobczak found that the acid in fruit could power clocks; she connected a cut-up orange to a clock with wire and watched it tick. In seventh grade, she generated power by engineering paddles that could harness wind. And in eighth grade, she started a project that eventually would become her passion: She wanted to grow algae and turn it into biofuel. After four years of tinkering in her garage for about an hour each day, Sobczak (pronounced sob-chek) has finally figured it out. Her algae-to-fuel project won first place and best in category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, beating 1,600 other finalists from 70 countries. The Intel ISEF is one of the largest and most prestigious science fairs in the world. “When I got there, I looked at all the projects and they were amazing, but I trusted that my project has a lot of capabilities to be used in the real world, so I thought I had a good chance of winning,” said Sobczak, a rising senior at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg. The project’s official title: Algae to Oil via Photoautotrophic Cultivation and Osmotic Sonication. In less dizzying terms, Sobczak cultivated, harvested and extracted algae oils and turned them into biofuel. Biofuel is made by taking a mass — such as grass, sugarcane or corn — and converting it to fuel. The process leaves out harmful chemicals, like chloroform and hexane, which are used in making biodiesel and other types of fuel. Also, the use of algae biofuel reduces reliance on fossil fuels. Some research...

It Couldn’t Be Done, by Edgar Albert Guest Somebody said that it couldn’t be done But he with a chuckle replied That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it! Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that; At least no one ever has done it;” But he took off his coat and he took off his hat And the first thing we knew he’d begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it. There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure, There are thousands to point out to you one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do...

Scientists are warning the planet has now reached a grim climate milestone not seen for two or three million years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 400 parts per million. The 400 ppm threshold has been an important marker in U.N. climate change negotiations, widely recognized as a dangerous level that could drastically worsen human-caused global warming. The environmentalist group 350.org takes its name after the 350 parts per million threshold that scientists say is the maximum atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide for a safe planet. In a statement on the parts per million number hitting 400, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben said, quote, “The only question now is whether the relentless rise in carbon can be matched by a relentless rise in the activism necessary to stop it.” To find out more about the impacts of crossing the threshold, study the books of leading climate scientist Michael Mann, distinguished professor of meteorology at Penn State University, author of the recent book, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. So, this number, 400 parts per million, what does it mean? It’s the number of molecules of CO2 for every million molecules of air; 400 of them are now CO2. Just two centuries ago, that number was only 280 parts per million. So if we continue to add carbon to the atmosphere at current rates, we’ll reach a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 within the next few decades. We have to go several million years back in time to find a point...